No Matter What
by kaylinwriter14
Summary: Back from Manhattan and everything is great... until Mary starts being followed by a strange man. Who is he? What does he want? What happens when things get dangerous? If they find out who he is, things will never be the same. Truth can hurt, maybe kill..
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

This is my first Another Cinderella story. This is after Mary and Joey come back from Manhattan. Mary has graduated from the Manhattan School of Dance. Tami and Dustin still date and have both graduated. Tami works at a fashion magazine and Dustin is a radio dj. They are all 22. My story is starts on May 28th.

_**No Matter What**_

"_How far away are we now?" Mary asked._

"_Well last time you asked we were about 30 minutes away and no we are…" Joey answered before stopping to look at his watch. "29 minutes away."_

"_Sorry I just can't wait to see Tami. It has been a year since we have seen each other. Oh my gosh Joey! What if she doesn't like me anymore!"_

"_How could she not like you? She calls you everyday!"_

"_Well she hasn't called me once in the last week and a half!"_

_That's because she has that new article she is supposed to be writing that new article on summer fashions right?"_

"_It's not just that Joey, she gets to pick the top styles from all the fashion shows she has been to! This could make or break her career!"_

"_Wow! She that's why she hasn't talked to you in awhile she is probably stressed out." There was a brief pause._

"_Speaking of careers have you talked to Dustin lately? How is his career going?" Mary asked._

"_Oh, the Funk? He's good. I listened to his show yesterday; a caller asked him why he called himself The Funk. He sat there for about 5 minutes tongue tied, until the caller finally hung up."_

_They both laughed._

_Mary sighed. "I miss them both so much. I still can't believe you signed a six month contract to sing right in my hometown!"_

"_With you as one of my back up dancers of course." Joey added._

_After about five minutes of silence, Mary started to speak. "Joey, how far away are we now?"_

_Joey sighed. "Soon, we will be there soon."_

_**Okay. That's the end of the first chapter .I gets a lot better and pretty suspenseful. I will update as often as I can. I will try to about once a week. More if I have the time. Things can get pretty busy here so probably once a week not more. But don't worry; I will NEVER just end the story without you knowing how it ends. **_


	2. Chapter 2 It's like we were never apart

_Okay I have lots of free time and I am really into my story so I thought I would go ahead a write another chapter!_

"**Oh my Gosh! We are here!" Mary cried as Joey pulled into the driveway at Tami's house. Tami and Dustin were both outside waiting for them. Mary unbuckled and jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped. She ran straight to Tami. **

"**Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Mary squealed**

"**It's you! It's really you!" Tami shouted.**

"**Well, who did you think it would be?" Dustin said under his breath. Tami turned around and playfully smacked his shoulder.**

"**Hey!" he shouted. "Don't hurt me! I was just playing!"**

"**Whatever." Tami said rolling her eyes. Then she turned her attention back to Mary. "I am still so psyched you are here!" Tami said hugging Mary**

"**I am so psyched to be here!" Mary cried pulling away from her hug. "Wow! You look amazing!" she shouted.**

**Tami was wearing a neon pink tank top with a short sleeve leather jacket over it. She had black leggings on and some open toe boots with 4-inch heels on, that were the same color as the shirt.**

"**Thanks! It's a Tami original. You don't look so bad your self!"**

**Mary was wearing a two tiered, tank dress with spaghetti straps. It was a royal blue color. She had some silver heels on that at 3-imches were slightly smaller then Tami's **

"**Thanks!" Mary replied. Joey walked up to Mary carrying her stuff. After some quick "Hello" s and "How have you been "s. Joey asked Mary, "So you're going to stay at Tami's house and I am going to stay at Dustin's apartment. Right?"**

"**Yeah." she started 'I have an idea. How about you leave my luggage here and you guys go get settled and we will meet back a six-ish and go for pizza."**

"**Sounds good to me." Joey answered. "What do you guys think?"**

"**That be great!" Dustin said eagerly. "Well, I guess we better go J.P."**

"**Okay. " Joey said to Dustin. "Bye." Joey said before kissing Mary on the cheek.**

**After Joey and Dustin left, Tami turned to Mary and said, "Well I guess I should go show you the guest bedroom." So after walking inside and through a house filled with zebra décor Tami opened a door and said "Ta-da! Here it is!" Then she paused. "Well, I'll leave you to get settled."**

**Mary set her bags down and walked over to the window. She could see straight over to the park across the street. She saw a little boy who look to be about six and his dad try and try to fly a kite, before the finally got it to soar. She saw a man with a rather large nose sitting on a bench reading the paper, every so often he would look around as if he was searching for someone. She saw a young man with his arm around a young woman's shoulder; and from the way she looked at him it was obvious they were in love.**

**Mary sighed and turned around. She had better start packing if she wanted to go out for pizza later.**

_**And… that the end of chapter 2. The next chapter is when it starts to get creepy. Also I would like to thank BellaRose55 for being my first reviewer! You rock! (Fanfare plays)**_


	3. Chapter 3 Strange

"Mary! The boys are here!" Tami shouted.

"Coming!" Mary quickly answered.

Mary had finished her packing a while ago so she was ready to go. She quickly put the book she was reading down and walked to the doorway. Right as she was about to leave she turned at looked at the room again.

Tami had really outdone herself this time. The room was all blue and lavender and had a retro feel added to it. Two walls were painted lavender and the other two were painted blue. It wasn't a dark blue, but it wasn't a light blue either, more of a medium. The single bed in the corner had a blue comforter with all these crazy, funky, lavender triangles on it. The dresser, nightstand and vanity were all painted blue. The floor was a purple shag carpet. To top the look off there was a purple beanbag under the window and a blue lava lamp on the nightstand.

"Mary?" Tami shouted.

"Sorry!" Mary said meeting Tami and the boys at the front door. "I was looking at my amazing room!"

"Thanks! I am glad you like it. I am just sad that you didn't get to help me decorate." Tami replied.

**Later at the pizza place**

"Okay what will you have?" the waiter asked them.

"I think we will have one veggie pizza." Joey answered

"And one macaroni pizza." Dustin added.

Joey and Mary looked at Tami and Dustin as if they needed to go to an insane asylum.

"What!?!" Tami asked.

"It's really good!" Dustin assured them.

"Okay whatever you say." Joey said rolling his eyes. Mary couldn't help but laugh.

Then her eyes fell on the door. The man that had been at the park reading the newspaper had just walked in. He looked like he was middle aged. He had on a long black t-shirt and black shorts. To top off his weird ensemble he had a black fedora pulled low over his eyes. To Mary he looked well… just plain strange.

Joey was wearing a black fedora, too. But, he looked much better. Joey was wearing a white polo with a black unbuttoned vest over it. He had on black jeans shorts and some black sketchers.

Suddenly their pizza arrived.

"Dude, are you really going to eat that!" Joey asked Dustin.

"Sure am!" Dustin answered taking a bite.

"You want to try a piece, Mary?" Tami asked.

"Well… uhh…" Mary stammered. "Sure! Why not!?" Tami handed her a piece. Mary took a bite of the bubbling, cheesy mass. "Whoa!" she said with her mouthful. "You weren't kidding!"

Joey gave Mary a very strange look. Mary laughed. "Oh don't look at me that way." She giggled.

"Here why don't you try one J.P.?" Dustin asked.

"No thanks. I am fine with my veggie pizza." He answered.

"Seriously Joey try it!" Mary said. Joey sighed.

"Okay." He picked up a piece of pizza and took a small bite. Then his blue eyes bugged out of his head. "Wow! This is actually really good!"

They all laughed at his goofy expression.

**On the way home.**

"I had a fun time." Joey said.

Mary looked nervously into the rearview mirror. Yep that car was still there. He had been behind them since they had left the Pizza place.

"I did too." Tami said. "It was funny when you found out that you liked macaroni pizza."

"Yeah" Dustin added. "By the end of the night you had polished off half of the pizza!" Everyone except Mary laughed at that.

Joey quizzically looked at Mary then asked her, "Is something the matter? You sure are quiet."

"Huh?" Mary jumped. "Uhhh… no." she answered shaking her head vigorously.

"Okay…" Joey said questionably. "Oh we are here." He said pulling into Tami's driveway. Mary looked back and saw the car that was behind them pull into a parking space at the park.

"You know you guys don't have to go right now." Tami said. "It is still early. We could go for a walk in the park."

"Sounds good." Dustin said.

As they got out of the car and started walking on one of the parks many trails, Joey saw that Mary was shivering. So he put his arm around hear. Mary didn't seem to notice and she was still shivering violently. Because see wasn't shivering because she was cold. In fact she felt fine. She was shivering because the man dressed in black from the pizza place had stepped out of the car, and was silently trailing behind them.

She didn't know who he was, or what he wanted. But he was definitely following them.

_**Thanks to all the people who reviewed, added me to story/author alerts or favorite author/story.**_


	4. Chapter 4 Scary

Joey felt Mary shiver again. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"Nothing" Mary lied.

"Mary you are a terrible liar. Now what is the matter!" Joey said starting to get angry.

"Okay! It's just that man behind us has been following us since we arrived here." Joey looked back at the man. He hadn't ever seen him before, but then maybe he had. He met so many people it was hard to tell.

"Who is he?" Joey asked.

"I was hoping you knew." Mary said sounding afraid.

"You know it probably isn't anything. Just someone who was driving along, saw me, and was all like, OH MY GAWD! IT'S JOEY PAKER!" Joey said in a high-pitched voice, which made Mary laugh.

"Yeah you're probably right." Mary giggled. "Oops. We haven't even noticed how far Tami and Dustin are ahead of us."

"Yeah your right." Joey said. 'We should catch up with them."

**The next day.**

Mary yawned. Then she sat up in bed and stretched her arms. She was tired. They had somehow taken the five-mile trail by mistake and didn't get back until late.

Mary got out of bed and looked at the clock. Wow! It was late. Why did everyone let her sleep this late?

She was hungry so she walked to the kitchen and poured her self a bowl of honey nut cheerios. When she went to get the milk, she noticed a note for her on the fridge.

Mary,

The boys had to go do something at the auditorium where Joey is performing, something about a fog machine not being ordered. They said they would be back for lunch. I went shopping. I wanted you to come with me, but you were so tired last night and you looked so peaceful… I just couldn't wake you. But if your good maybe I'll bring you a welcome back present. Okay?

Then Tami had drawn a little smiley face.

Seriously though, any problems call me or Joey. You should probably call Joey because he is closer then I am.

Be back soon,

Tami~

Mary put the note back on the fridge and opened the fridge. As she poured her milk, she thought about last night. Joey was probably right about that man. But, there was something about him she didn't like him.

"Well who am I to judge I never even met the man." Mary said to herself, putting the milk back in the fridge.

While she ate her cereal, she tried to remember if she had ever seen him before yesterday. She didn't think she had.

She sighed as she rinsed out her bowl. She doubted she would ever see him again so what did it matter? Out of curiosity, she went to her bedroom and looked out the window. She almost expected the man to be sitting right their on the bench watching her. But he wasn't. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

She went to the living room and sat on Tami's big furry zebra striped couch. Then she turned on the television. She flipped through all the channels and nothing was on. So she just left it on Good Morning America.

She got up and started to walk to her room. She thought that maybe she would practice her dancing. Then she suddenly heard a very loud, forceful knock at the back door.

"That's strange." Mary thought. "Who knocks at the back door?" Mary had a bad feeling about this. Then the person started banging on the back door even harder. Mary slowly walked over to the kitchen window. From there she could she who was knocking.

And what she saw scared her to death. The man knocking on the door was the man from last night!


	5. Chapter 5 What to do?

**Mary panicked. Her head filled with horrible worse case scenarios.**

**The man pounding against the door again snapped her out of it. This time he yelled at her, "Hey, Mary! Open the door!"**

**Mary barley managed to stutter her response, "Who… Who… are you? And how… d… do you know my name?"**

"**I know all about you, I have been following you for quite sometime now."**

**Mary felt sick to her stomach. "What do you want?" She almost whispered.**

"**You" He said.**

**For a moment, Mary felt like she would faint. She had to steady herself with the kitchen counter.**

"**I have a gun!"**

**Mary was sure she was going to pass out. But, somehow, she stayed consciousness.**

"**You have five minutes to open the door, before I bust it down!"**

**Mary screamed.**

"**That's right! Open the door!" he said viciously.**

**Mary almost screamed again. "Stop, Mary." she said to herself. "You have to think. What was it Tami said to do? Oh! Call Joey!"**

**Mary scrambled over to the hot pink phone hanging on the wall across the kitchen. She dialed Joeys cell phone. It seemed like an eternity until he answered even though it was probably less then a minute.**

"**Hello, Joey Parker speaking."**

"**Oh my gosh, Joey! The man from last night is at the door, and he has a gun and he knows my name and he wants me to open the door in five minutes or he is going to bust down!" Mary said breathlessly. "What do I do?"**

"**Okay, Mary! Here what you do. You hang up and you call the police then tell him you have called the police."**

"**Okay. Wait!"**

"**What?"**

"**I love you." Mary was startled. She had never told him that before.**

"**I love you too. Now be careful. We will be there in a few minutes. Bye."**

"**Okay bye." Mary said hanging up the phone.**

_**Dun Dun Dun! What will happen to Mary? Who Is this guy? Stay tuned to find out! **_

_**Thank you for all the nice reviews! I know it is short I will try and update by Friday. Suggestions and reviews are greatly appreciated!**_


	6. Chapter 6 OH NO!

**Does anybody know Tami's last name? I copied Miller from another fanfic but the author wasn't sure that they had all the right last names.**

Mary's heart was racing when she dialed the numbers. She was all thumbs. This is how she dialed, 7 No! 8 No! 92 No! 912. No! 911. Finally!

Right after she clicked the last button, she heard the man shout "Two minutes left!"

She hadn't thought her heart could possibly beat faster. But she was wrong.

"911, What's your emergency?" The dispatch lady asked.

"There is a man pounding on my back door. He wants me to let him in, but I have never seen him before, he has a gun and he is threatening me. Saying that if I don't open the door in two minutes he is going to bust it down." Mary said trying to sound calm, but she was sure she sounded frantic.

"Okay how long has he been there?"

"About 10 minutes. I am running out of time! If I don't open the door he is going to get angry!"

"Sorry, Miss. What is your name and where is your present location?"

"Mary Santiago, and I am staying at my friend, Tami Miller's house." After Mary had told the woman her address, the woman said, " The police will be there shortly. Okay? I am going to stay on the line with you. If that man says or does anything else you tell me." "Okay"

"Mary Santiago!" The man yelled.

"He just yelled out my name." Mary whispered into the phone.

"Open the door!" He pointed his gun up toward the sky and fired.

"He fired his gun (He had it pointing straight up though) and told me to open the door." Mary said keep the woman up to date.

Mary was slowly walking to the other side of the room. She hoped the man didn't see her.

The man then muttered a couple of expletives before firing his gun through the window.

Mary screamed. She could see where the bullet had made a hole in the wall.

The man fired his gun through the window again.

"What just happened? Hello? Mary are you alright? Hello?" the dispatch lady cried frantically. But no one answered her.

**Sorry! I know it's short I am super busy and now I am going to try and enter a writing contest. I will try and update by Tuesday.**


	7. Chapter 7 Joey

**Sorry for not updating in a while. Especially since that last chapter ended with a cliffhanger. Thanksgiving is crazy at my house. But I had lot's of good food, and lots of fun. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!**

As soon as Joey had hung up with Mary he had ran out of the building and straight to his car, leaving everyone else very confused.

He had jumped in his convertible without opening the door. He had put the keys in the ignition and drove away.

Now he was driving as fast as the speed limit would allow him. His heart was pounding. He was gripping the wheel so tight his knuckles had turned white.

On the phone with Mary he had tried to be calm, but on the inside he was a scared as her. He was terrified something would happen to Mary. He loved her so much… if anything happened to her he didn't know what he would do.

He finally pulled into Tami's driveway. He hurriedly turned off the car. He jumped out and ran to the front door. He swiftly pulled the key out from under the mat. Then he heard a gun shot, then Mary scream. Then another gun shot. Then every thing was silent.

The gunfire terrified him, Mary's scream was blood curdling, and the second gunshot was horrific… but what scared him the most was the silence. Mary should have screamed… or she should have yelled at the man… or he should have yelled at her… something!

But their wasn't a sound. Just deep, deep silence. Unless you could hear his heart shatter

Joey shook his head, trying to shake out al the horrible thoughts, then he clumsily unlocked the door and ran inside.

He didn't bother to shut the door, He just ran straight toward the back of the house, he was sure that the sounds had come from there.

As soon as he walked in the kitchen he could see the man. He had broken the window, and Joey assumed that was how he got inside.

He was a middle aged man, no older then forty, but the glare he gave Joey was timeless. It was a look of pure hate. His eyes were the color of the sky on a rainy day, A blue and gray color.

But the main thin about his eyes was they were cold and stiff. All Joey had to do was look in them once and he could tell, this man was full of hatred. He didn't know what the world had done to him to make him that way but, somewhere along the way this man started hating life. And that hate had undoubtedly lead to him coming after Mary. He had know clue as to what he had against him and Mary though.

In the blink of an eye the man had turned and ran away. Joey started to chase after him but stopped.

He stopped because out of the corner of his eye he saw Mary. Sitting on the floor, slumped up against the wall. But what scared him the most was that their was that her left shoulder was covered with blood.


	8. Chapter 8 phone calls and news

"Oh my God…" Joey whispered, walking over toward her.

"Mary? Are you okay?" he asked kneeling down to her level.

There was no answer.

"Mary!" he shouted tears filling his eyes. He wanted to reach out and shake her, but he had read somewhere that could make things worse.

"Answer me!" he begged.

Still no answer. Joey was freaking out now. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't…

Then he heard a woman shouting, he looked and saw the phone at Mary's feet. She must have dropped it.

He quickly picked the phone up and answered the woman.

"Hello?" he said slowly.

"Hello? Who is this? What happened to Mary?" the woman cried franticly.

"This is Joey Parker. I am her boyfriend. I spoke with her on the phone earlier, in fact I am the one who told her to call the police." he said trying to be calm. "Where are they? The man is already gone! And he shot Mary!" he said starting to panic again.

"What? He shot Mary?" The woman asked.

"That's what I am guessing I heard gunfire and when I ran in the house the man ran away and Mary was lying on the floor and her shoulder is bleeding pretty bad." Joey explained

"Okay, the police should be there any minute. Is she breathing?" The woman inquired.

Joey breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her chest rise and fall. "Yes she is breathing but she is remaining unconscious."

"Okay… now you should just wait for the police and ambulance to get there.

"Okay" Joey said with a sigh

* * *

Three hours.

He had been sitting there for three hours.

Three hours and there was still no news.

The ambulance had finally showed up and it took him and Mary to the hospital. Mary never even moved. The only thing that kept Joey from thinking she was dead, was her shallow breathing..

When they reached the hospital they rushed her into some room and told him he had to stay in the waiting room.

Which was where he had sat… for three hours… with no news.

Well actually there had been news, someone must have seen him and Mary get in the ambulance because, now all that was on t.v. was that "Joey Parkers longtime girlfriend, Mary Santiago, was rushed to the emergency room." and the were tons of reporters waiting outside, trying to talk to him.

Joey had nothing else to do (other then sit their and let his head fill with terrified thoughts) so he watch the news.

Ever so often he would switch the channels, each channel seemed to have their own version of the story. One reporter said "A neighbor claims to have heard gunfire and to have seen a mysterious man run away from the house. Our souses are telling us that Mary was cheating on Joey with this man and when Joey found out he was consumed with rage and shot her."

"What on earth?" Joey thought to himself. "They don't even know what happened."

The realization hit him like a freight train. "We don't even know what happened."

"Hey J.P.!" Joey heard a familiar voice call out.

"Dustin!" Joey said standing up (He had been sitting on a couch before)

"Hey Joey!" Tami said as she and Dustin ran over to him. "What happened?" "Yeah. You left in a big hurry. So I drove to Tami's house." Dustin said

"We both drove up at about the same time, but no one was there." Tami added.

"Then we heard on the news that Mary had been hospitalized. So we rushed over here." Dustin finished.

"I don't really know what happened." Joey said sadly. "I guess it all started last night, Mary had seen this guy follow us home from the pizza place, and I had said that he probably was just following us because he was shocked to see someone famous. But then this morning Mary called me and she was freaking out apparently the man was back an he was at the back door. She said he knew her name and was threatening her with a gun."

Tami and Dustin's mouths dropped open.

"What did you do?" Dustin asked.

"I told her to call the police then I hung up." Joey said. "After I hung up I ran outside and drove to her house as fast as I could. Right before I walked inside I heard a gunshot, then Mary scream, then another gun shot. I ran inside to find the man had broken inside. As soon as he saw me he ran away. I started to run after him but noticed Mary was hurt. I think she was shot."

"Oh my gosh!" Tami cried.

"Yeah" Joey said biting his lip. "I should have been more careful. I should have done something as soon as she said he was following us."

Joey then sat down on the couch. Tami and Dustin soon did the same. Then there was silence. Each person preoccupied with their thoughts.

"Breaking News" the reporter on the News said, breaking the silence. "Joey Parkers best friend and manager, Dustin Gray and Mary Santiago's best friend Tami miller when seen walking into the hospital."

Then they showed a video of Tami and Dustin walking inside.

"Are they caught up in this scheme some how? Did they help shoot Mary? Channel 3's Breaking News will keep you covered on this whole thing."

Tami, Dustin and Joey where all laughing hysterically.

"Man they work fast don't they?" Dustin said.

Right after they calmed down a nurse walked in and said, "Joey Parker? There is some news on Mary."

_**OH What's going on? What is the news!? I guess you will have to stay tuned!**_

_**Sorry I went so long without updating. But this is the longest chapter. About 1000 words! I was going to make it longer too but decided to stop there. I will try and update as soon as I can.**_

_**I think I know where I want to go with this story, but suggestions, (and REVIEWS!) are greatly appreciated!**_


	9. Chapter 9 Talking with Mary

"What?!" Tami, Dustin and Joey all said at the same time.

"She is awake." the nurse said, letting everyone breath again. "Finally, The doctors were beginning to get worried. It was difficult to get the bullet out and she ended up needing 22 stitches, and she lost a lot of blood. She needed a blood transfusion, it's not dire anymore. But her body was low on plasma. She is still hooked up to the I.v. so she isn't supposed to move much… but it should be okay for you to go see her.

"Thank you." Joey said. "What room is she in?"

"Here I will show you she said, walking down the hallway. The group followed her.

The nurse a young women, know older then 25. She had shoulder length blonde hair. Her hair was wavy, which really framed her face.

"She is in this door here." The nurse said pointing to a door.

"Okay thank you!" Tammy said.

Dustin opened the door slightly and saw Mary starting at the wall.

"Knock-Knock!" he said opening the door all the way and walking inside.

"Hi!" she said with a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" Tami asked with a smile.

"Okay… despite from all the needles… I am beginning to feel like a pin cushion. Mary said.

Everyone laughed. The for a few minutes everyone was silent. Joey sat down in a chair beside Mary's bed, and Tam I and Dustin sat in chairs on the other side of the room.

"You guys…" Mary almost whispered. "What ever happened to the man?"

"Uhhh…" Dustin said. "The doctors didn't tell you?"

"Mary shook her head. "I don't even know how I got to the hospital. I just know I was shot."

Tami was the first to speak up. "As soon as Joey hung up the phone he dropped what he was doing and drove as fast as he could over to my house." "Leaving some of us very confused." Dustin said with a smirk.

Tami smiled. "Anyway…" she continued. "He heard gunfire and you scream so he ran inside. Which caused to man to run away." "So the police didn't catch him?" Mary asked looking worried.

Joey shook his head. "I almost chased after him… but I saw you were hurt so I took you to the hospital via ambulance."

Mary nodded.

But then they were interrupted by the nurse coming back in.

"Hi Hon, How you feeling?" the nurse said to Mary.

"Hi Maggie. I am feeling fine just tired of needles." she said with a smile.

"That's okay… it's time for the iv to come out anyway." Maggie said taking the needle out of her arm.

"I will be back soon to check on you." Maggie said leaving the room.

"Ughh…" Tami groaned.

"What?" Dustin asked.

"Why do the have to keep these rooms so empty and colorless! It's depressing!." she answered.

"Maybe it's to contrast with your outfit." Dustin joked.

Tami was wearing a bright red mini skirt with bright yellow tights under it. Her shirt was the same color as he skirt and had a bright yellow smiley face on it. She had big hoop earrings on, they were also red.

"Haha very funny." Tami said sarcastically.

"Joey and Mary laughed.

"Tami original?" Mary asked.

"Yep." Tami answered.

"I thought so." Dustin said.

Tami elbowed him.

"What?!" he shouted.

Tami just rolled his eyes.

Mary giggled and Joey smiled.

"No! Seriously! What did I do!?"

Everyone besides Dustin laughed.

"Whatever." Dustin said with a shrug of the shoulders.

Then Mary said, "The man… that shot me… did you see his face, Joey?" Joey nodded.

"What did he look like?" Tami asked.

"He was middle aged… had a rather large nose… rather tall." Joey stated. "I didn't a really good look at him… he ran away so quickly." "And we may never see him again." Mary said.

Everyone let her words slowly sink in.

"In other words, we may never know what he wanted."

_**Thank you for all your reviews, they make my day!**_

_**Questions of the week:**_

_**How is my character portrayal?**_

_**Would she have needed a blood transfusion?**_

_**You don't have to answer those if you don't want to.**_


	10. Chapter 10 dinner date

"Mary!" Tami called. "Joey's called he will be here in a few minutes."

"Okay!" Mary yelled back. She was in the bathroom that was connected to her room.

Mary loved all of the color in the bathroom. It was a sea green. But the shower curtain and towels were light blue. Mary thought that they contrasted well.

Mary quickly fixed her blush.

Then Mary heard a car pull up.

She was excited to see that it was Joey. Mary had been out of the hospital for two weeks now.

Joey had moved it to his huge house and Mary was going to rent an apartment, but Tami wouldn't hear of it. "Come on!" she had said. "Stay with me! It will be like one long continuous slumber party!"

Anyways Joey had drove down from his house to take Mary out to dinner. A dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town.

Before Mary ran out the door she looked at her self in the mirror one more time.

Tami had helped her pick out her dress. It was a dark purple, sleeveless. The top was form fitting (not to tight though) then a ribbon that was just a little lighter then the dress was wrapped around her and tied into a bow (the bow was off to her right side). It got looser.

Mary's had curled her hair so now it was hanging down in loose curls. She had parted it to the side and used a purple hair clip to keep it out of her face.

Mary also held a small purple clutch. Mary normally didn't like to carry around clutches (they were so easy to lose) but she Tami had insisted it completed the look, an Mary had to admit, she was right

Mary quickly ran outside, said a quick goodbye to Tami, and climbed in Joey's black Mercedes.

"Hi." he said. "How is your arm doing.?" Ever since the incident, Joey had been very protective of Mary.

"It's fine, Joey. You asked me this morning, and I said it felt fine!" She said rolling her eyes.

"Sorry. I just wondered if you felt like going anywhere." He said backing out of the driveway

"Yes." Mary answered. "I have been looking forward to it all day!" she paused. "What is the name of the restaurant? I forgot."

"bouillabaisse." he said. It sounded like he said, "bule ya bass"

"What? How do you bule something!? And I don't have a bass!" Mary said jokingly.

Joey didn't say anything, he just pulled on his blue and red tie.

Mary wondered what could be making Joey so nervous. He was _never_ nervous. Not even when he was performing in front of all those people.

Then despite herself, Mary glanced in the rear view mirror. She had tried not to worry about it, but the police had never found the man, so she found herself constantly checking to see if she was being followed.

Joey saw her looking in the mirror and said, "Are you sure you wouldn't feel safer at home, not to worry you or anything, but they never did find that man."

"No, Joey" I want to go." Mary said sighing. "I don't even know why I check, I mean he knows the police will be looking for him, so he wouldn't dare come back."

Joey nodded. Then wiped his hand on his pants, as if he was wiping away the sweat on his palms.

"Umm… Joey." Mary started. "What's the matter? Why are you so nervous?"

"Huh?" He said snapping back into the real world. "I am not nervous. I was just… thinking about something."

Then the car pulled into "Bouillabaisse." and he said. "Okay here where are."

As Joey backed the car into a parking space, Mary's thoughts wandered.

"The word Bouillabaisse isn't spelled like it sounds." she thought "The French language is so difficult to understand! But I bet the French find the English language difficult. It is really, I mean why is there a silent g in gnat and why is there a silent k in know! In fact, why is there silent letters at all!"

They stepped out of the car and walked inside. Then they walked up to the maitre d' and Joey said. "Table fore two."

"Oh course sir" The man said. "Do you have reservations?"

"I do." Joey answered. "They are under the name Joey Parker."

"Oh course sir. Henri will show you to your table." he said gesturing to a young man.

The man lead them to their tables and handed them their menus

The maitre d' had been rather round, had brown thinning hair and spoke with a proper French accent. The waiter was tall and wiry, had shaggy blonde hair and spoke with an accent Mary could tell was being faked.

The asked for some sweet tea and a diet coke, and after the waiter clumsily brought them, Mary looked around the room.

Excluding the kitchen, the whole restaurant was one huge room. Every table was covered with a white tablecloth and had a small candle in the middle. In fact. There was no other source of light then the candles. It made things hard to see; but Mary found it quite romantic. Especially since their was a small quartet playing soft instrumental songs.

"Miss?" she Henri said, snapping Mary out of her thoughts.

"Oh!" she said. "I am sorry. What?"

"What will you eat?" Henri said, looked very annoyed.

"Umm… why don't you ask Joey first… I am not ready." Mary said.

"He already did." Joey said. Looking a bit annoyed himself.

"Ahh… what is the foey grass?" she asked mispronouncing foie gras.

"F way Gray?" Henri asked, using the correct pronunciation. Mary nodded. "It is fatty goose liver, in a rich tangy sauce, topped with fresh mustard seeds"

"No…" Mary mumbled. If looks could kill, Henri would be going to jail for Mary's murder.

"Just pick something!" Joey whispered to her.

"I can't!" she mouthed to him.

"Uhhh." Mary said franticly searching the menu for a food she recognized. Henri had turned was bright red and looked like he was going to scream. What was worse was people were being to turn and stare at the spectacle.

"Just give her the pot au feu!' Joey announced. Henri quickly spun around and practically ran back to the kitchen.

"Thanks." Mary mumbled.

Joey chuckled.

"What?" Mary said.

"You have to admit that was pretty funny." He laughed.

"No it wasn't." Mary giggled. "Did you see the way he looked at me!?"

The both laughed.

After their laughter had died down. Mary asked, "What is pot au fue anyway?"

"A type of beef stew." "Okay." Mary said. "What did you order?"

"Bouillabaisse"

"I thought that was the name of the restaurant?"

"It is. The restaurant is named and famous for it." "What is it?"

"A type of fish soup."

The rest of the dinner went smoothly, and Henri was more relaxed by the time the finished their dessert.

Then just when Mary thought they were going to go, Joey told her to sit still and keep her eyes closed.

_**Yes all the French dishes are real as are their pronunciation. **_


	11. Chapter 11 A queastion, and heart break

_**I know most of you didn't enjoy that last chapter. But I promise, It's for a good reason. Their an interesting plot twist that I think you are going to enjoy…**_

"What?" Mary asked Joey, not quite sure what he was saying.

Mary closed her eyes. The music stopped playing and everyone was silent.

Then Mary heard Joey say to open her eyes, when she did she was shocked.

Joey was down on one knee and in on hand he held a diamond ring

"Do I even have to ask?" he said with a smile.

"Yes!" Mary said hitting him with a hug so hard she practically tackled him. Then the whole restaurant awed.

After Mary and Joey were done hugging, The owner walk over to them. "Congratulations!" he said shaking Joey's hand. "Come with me to my office for some complimentary champagne."

Mary and Joey followed him through the kitchen, down a long hallway, and into his office; holding hands the whole way.

The owner was an old man, and in the dim light of his office, it really showed.

"Oh dang nab it!" the owner exclaimed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "I forgot! We keep the champagne in the cellar!" The he turned and looked at Joey. "Would you mind coming with me, young man? The cellar door his heavy and hard for me to open." "Okay." Joey answered the young man.

"You can stay her Miss. He'll only be gone a minute." The man said to Mary.

Mary nodded and sat down on the dark green sofa the owner had in his office.

Joey and the old man walked into the kitchen, where a waiter asked where they were going.

"To the cellar." The owner replied. "To get some champagne for the happy couple."

"Umm… Mr. Thomas… we don't use the cellar any more. We stopped that a few months ago, remember?" "Oh…' was all Mr. Thomas said.

"Here is a bottle of Champagne though." the waiter said handing the bottle and two glasses to Joey.

"You go drink it with your fiancée. I have to go do something." Mr. Thomas said walking away.

Joey walked back to the office.

Once he was inside he placed the bottle and glasses on Mr. Thomas' desk.

"Mary?" Joey said, seeing she was not sitting on the couch.

He turned around and felt the pain in his heart again. It was the same pain that had been there the day she was shot.

His brain went numb. He could think. And he could barley see.

And what he did see was what was causing him all this misery.

In a dark corner of the room, Mary was standing, looking terrified, tears spilling over.

The man was back.

And he had one hand over Mary's mouth.

The other held his gun.

Which he had pressed against the side of her head.

_**There is your plot twist (But it's not the last one hehe)**_

_**Do you like it?**_

_**Hate it?Think it is to boring and all been done before?**_

_**Thank you for mudding through the last chapter, and the beginning of this one (I know they are not my best)**_


	12. Chapter 12 Will I see you again?

"Make one sound and she is dead." the man hissed.

Mary struggled and tried to get away. Which mad the man angry.

"Don't make me shoot you, princess."

Joey had just been standing there, frozen with shock.

Now he spoke up, "What is this about?" Joey asked taking a step towards him.

"Don't come any closer or your precious fiancée is a dead woman." The man said smiling, yes smiling. He was getting amusement out of this!

Joey stood still. "Maybe we can talk about it, there is no need to get violent."

"Yes Mr. Parker, there is."

"Why?"

The man ignored Joeys question and pulled Mary over to the only door in the office.

" I guess we are going to have to do this the hard way…" he muttered then looked at Joey. "Open the door." Joey didn't hesitate. Mary just stared at him, tears in her eyes. "It's going to be okay." Joey mouthed to her. "Now if only I could be sure of that…" Joey thought to himself.

The man slowly walked out of the office and into the kitchen, pulling Mary along with him.

As soon as they walked into the normally busy kitchen, every cook and server stood still. They all seemed to be in shock, because standing in front of them, was a woman who minutes ago was happily engaged, now she was being held at gun point.

Then one chef snapped to life he reached the phone hanging on the wall.

In one instant the man pointed the gun on him, and shot.

The chef fell lifeless to the floor.

"Anyone else want to try and call the police!" the man shouted. Ever stood still. Silently gazing at their co worker, now sprawled out on the floor.

"I just want to get out of this restaurant!" the man yelled.

The man walked into the dining room. Joey silently followed.

At first no one in the dining room could believe their eyes, then a woman shrieked and fainted to the floor.

Then everyone panicked. They all stood up, screaming, about to run for the door.

The man fired his gun up into the ceiling, causing some plaster to fall.

The he yelled, "Everybody sit down! I just want Miss. Santiago here."

Everybody sat down, staring and the candlelight gleaming on the mans pistol.

It seemed like an eternity before the man reached the door, he had crept along silently watching everyone.

But once he was outside, he ran for his car, opened the door and pushed Mary inside.

Joey didn't even have to react before the car was speeding away. All he could do was stare at the car and silently hoped it wouldn't be the last time he'd see Mary.


	13. Chapter 13 Many queastions, one answer

"Ow!" Mary thought even before opening her eyes. Her head was throbbing.

Mary felt the cold floor against her body.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was in a basement.

"How did I get here?" She thought. But then she remembered. Then man had pushed her in the car and drove away. After he had drove a short distance he had pulled over and pressed some sweet smelling cloth against he mouth and nose. Mary had struggled but couldn't break free. That was all she remembered.

She didn't see a the man, and wondered where he was.

She did see that the basement was like a mini house. In one corner there was a stove, an oven, a fridge and few cabinets.

To the right of the "kitchen" there was a door that lead to a small bathroom and right behind that their was a flight of stairs with a door at the top. The door was locked though.

Then in the middle of the room there was an ugly couch. It was a disgusting green color with dark red stripes running through it. The couch was facing a very small TV sitting on a small stand. There was a small coffee table between the couch and TV.

Mary walked over and sat on the couch.

When she did she realized that the man hadn't taken her cell phone, it was still in her back pocket!

But, then she heard the door start to open.

Mary barley had enough time to put the phone on mute and toss it under the couch, before the man walked in.

With a simple "Your up" the man walked over, sat on the couch and turned the TV on. Mary didn't feel comfortable sitting by him so she stood up and started walking over to the other side of the room.

This angered the man, because he jumped up and roughly grabbed her by the arm. 'What am I not good enough to sit by you!" He screamed at her.

Mary was frightened and her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh quick your whimpering!" he shouted before slapping her. "Your just a waste of oxygen!"

He pushed her to the ground, causing her to hurt her wrist.

Then he got up and started watching the TV.

For about an hour that was all that happened Mary sat up against the wall, and the man watched TV. Mary didn't know what he was watching until she heard a news report about how she had been kidnapped.

Everyone knew she was being held against her will, but know one knew why or by how.

And for some reason Mary asked out loud. "Who are you? What do you want with me?" She immediately regretted saying anything.

But the man didn't even get off of the couch, he just looked at her and calmly said "My name is Derek."

That was all, no last name no reason as to will she was in a basement in some house she had never seen in God only knows where! He just turned his head to the TV and switched it to a Lakers game.

Evuntually the man sprawled out on the couch and fell asleep. It was easy to see that he didn't plan on leaving.

While he slept Mary found herself studying Derek's face. When he slept he looked, peaceful. Not like the rough maniac he was when he was awake.

Mary preferred him when he was asleep. When he was awake he scared her.

In fact, this whole situation scared her (although that's not surprising).

Her she was, she didn't know where she was, why she was there, if she would every get out, or even if she would survive.

"At least…" Mary thought to herself. "I know his first name."

_**Okay sorry if it's not that great.**_

_**This is just a side note:**_

_**I need a beta reader. **_

_**I had one but things didn't really work out. She was too busy.**_

_**If you are a beta reader who can help me with my, charter portal, grammar, spelling and the flow of the story; And can also give me suggestions on how to improve my story and my writing. **_

_**I hate to say this, but I am kind of impatient. If I send you a story I would like to receive the beta-ed version at least a few days later. It doesn't have to be perfect just better.**_

_**I also want to be able to have conversations about what should happen in the story (so my beta reader will pretty much know what happens through out the story) so I don't do anything unrealistic or stupid.**_

_**I realize I sound kind of picky, but if you match the qualifications I mentioned above and are interested in being my beta reader, please pm me.**_

_**And this is completely random, but, how old do you guys think I am?**_


	14. Chapter 14 sad news casts and an ooc man

Mary woke up to the smell of bacon.

She had fallen asleep on the floor, extremely tired.

Yesterday had been the worst day of her life.

She slowly stood up, looked around, and found the source of the smell. Derek was standing at the stove frying some bacon.

The aroma made her stomach growl. She was very hungry.

She wasn't going to ask him for some food though.

No way. That would be like saying "Hit me again". Mary knew, that's just what he would do, or maybe not hit, but kick, slap or something else causing bodily harm to her.

So Mary stood up and watched the man take his bacon out of the pan and onto a plate, to cool off.

She watched him expertly flip his pancakes, and eventually take them out of the old battered pan and on to another plate.

But even though all she had done was watch him he still came over, grabbed her bye the arm and roughly made her sit down at the kitchen table.

"Good Morning, princess!" Derek said sarcastically.

Then he plopped a plate of food down on the table in front of her.

At first Mary was stunned. She wasn't sure if she had thought the man would've let her starve, but to make a big breakfast and share it with her… that seemed out of character.

That was about the only way he was out of character.

"Well… eat the freaking food!" He shouted at her, pounding his fist against the table.

He was still aggressive and hurtful, despite having made Mary breakfast.

It was a great breakfast, Mary had to admit. Turned out, Derek was a great cook. The bacon was savory and cooked just right, kind of crunchy and kind of chewy.

The chocolate chip pancakes were thick and fluffy, made from scratch (as Mary could tell by the flour and eggshells all over the small counter).

Mary would have never guessed he liked to cook.

She could tell he did though because he had left a cabinet door open and Mary saw dozens and dozens of cookbooks laying on a self inside.

When Mary thought of a cook she though of a grandma, mixing up some cookie dough. Her gray hair pulled back in a bun, round glasses resting on the tip of her nose. White apron tied around her waist. The Mrs. Clause look, only with little grandchildren hugging at her knees.

But Derek was cold and mean. His hair was graying around the edges but for the most part his hair was black. He didn't wear glasses over his eyes (which weren't kind and loving, like the cook Mary had pictured, but dark and cold… and well just plain evil looking) He hadn't worn an apron for he had his clothes covered with grease and pancake batter.

Cooking was completely out of character.

"Or…" Mary thought to herself, chewing on a syrupy pancake. "Maybe I don't know his character?"

She quickly dismissed that thought. "No, this isn't Hollywood, and he isn't a confused man who is going to realize his faults and then set me free. It doesn't work that way. He will kill me if I have a chance. I have to stay strong."

May's thoughts were interrupted by Derek putting on the news _again_. He seemed to find some sick joy in watching news casts about how Mary was missing.

It was just the usual, Mary Santiago is missing, blah , blah, blah, the police have no idea where the man fled to, blah, blah, blah, have you seen this man, blah, blah, blah, BLAH!

It was driving Mary insane. She wanted to scream out to the reporters, "Here I am!"

Mary had just finished eating her food, and had but her plate in to the tiny, almost-to-small-to-hold-one-dish sink, when she hear the reporter say, "We managed to catch up with Joey Parker, and his thoughts on his missing fiancée, yes folks he has conformed. Joey had proposed just before Mary was kidnapped."

"That was just how I always thought my engagement would be announced." Mary thought to herself sarcastically.

"Here is the special footage." the reporter said before showing a video of Joey, he appeared to be walking downtown.

"How do you feel about Miss Santiago's kidnapping?" several reporters asked him.

Joey started to blink back tears.

"What!?" Mary thought. "He doesn't cry, he is…passionate…and somewhat emotional… but I've never seen him cry!"

"I just miss her so much." Joey answered. Then he straightened up and said plainly. "I am hoping someone will call with information on her whereabouts."

"Why did you propose to Miss Santiago?"

Joey smiled. "What kind of a question is that? Because I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Mary's heart felt like melting butter.

The reporters didn't even stop and think about what he had just said, and how sweet it was. No, they were like vultures, they wanted their scoop **now** and they didn't care about how, or whose feelings they hurt trying to get it.

She had learned this after dating Joey two months, because after that every magazine either said (1 she was pregnant (2 she was cheating on him, or vice versa (3 they were breaking up.

The reporters just asked him another question, "No. Why did you propose to her knowing she had just been attacked? Why didn't she lay low for a while?"

Joey frowned. "I was assured by the police and others, that the man wouldn't return and Mary was safe." Then he smiled. "I tried to make her lay low for a while but she wouldn't."

I could feel my eyes filling with tears as the stopped the footage and went back to the original reporter.

Big mistake. Because as Mary sniffled, Derek turned and looked at her, and was enraged.

He walked over and pushed her to the ground, then grabbed one of the kitchen knives, the long blade barely visible in the dim light.

He slapped her across the face and yelled at her "You think you deserve someone like him! You don't deserve to be alive."

He used the knife to make a gash on her leg.

The he hit her shoulder, the one that was still in the sling. Which caused her to cry out from the pain.

"Worthless Pest!" He shouted. "You shouldn't have even been born! And I will tell you why!"

_**I am sooooooo soooooooo sorry for the long wait. My grandmother just died (she lived next door to me so we were pretty close).**_


	15. Chapter 15 The reason why

"The only reason you were born was because your mother was stupid."

He moved the knife to Mary's neck. He wasn't digging the knife intoher skin, he was just holding it there with the cold metal resting precariously against her skin.

"There was pills she could have taken, or she should have just had an abortion! Would have saved me the trouble now!" he yelled in her face.

Then he moved his hand so it was grabbing the side of her neck (the one opposite the knife).

There were so many questions that Mary was thinking of: "What is he talking about? Pills? Abortion? Save him the trouble? That means he's going to kill me..." she thought to herself. "If I am going to die, I guess I might as well ask him some questions. Maybe he won't answer and maybe he will, but I have to know what he wants with me."

"What are you talking about?" Mary asked quietly, half expecting to feel the knife blade slide into her throat.

"After your mother was raped she should have taken precautions, but she was too idiotic."

Mary's eyes widened. "How did you know my mother was raped?" she asked, refusing to believe her suspicions.

He smiled a wicked grin. "Say hello to Daddy!"

Mary sucked in her breath. She felt like she was going to have a heart attack. She was wrong, _very wrong!_ She should've just died without knowing that her father was such an… _evil _man. She had always known he would have had to have been, to do what he did to her mother. But to see him face to face? And to know that he was holding her against her will? And that he was probably going to kill her? That was just too painful.

"No!" Mary thought to herself. "Maybe he's lying," she thought, searching for some other solution. But she knew, down inside, that it was true.

Derek must have seen her look of distress for he laughed, practically manically. Then he spoke, "Your mother had to die of course, but I couldn't just kill her when that was what she wanted to happen, when her life wasn't going good, I had to wait until her life was getting good (when she least expected it). And when her dance career started doing good, I just had to kill her." Mary just stared at him. This man was a killer, he'd killed her mother, he would kill her and his reasons were crazy. This man was crazy. He definitely wasn't sane.

Then Derek continued, "When you lived with Dominique, you life was bad enough (what with the emotional abuse and all), I could have just let you stay that way for awhile." He sighed. "But then you had to go and meet Joey

and he made you so happy. And your dance career was starting to take off. So I had to-"

"Just shut up!" Mary cried, tears running down her cheeks.

"Why you…" Derek said pulling back the knife.

* * *

America's favorite pop star was a mess.

Mary had been gone for three hours before Joey Parker finally made it back to Dustin's apartment. He had stood practically in shock, trying to answer all of the policemen's questions. It hadn't really set in. It was all just like a nightmare, and at any moment Joey expected himself to wake up, and find out he had just fallen asleep on the couch again.

Joey had slowly driven home. He had driven by himself many, many times, but never in his life had the car seemed so empty.

Joey arrived at Dustin's apartment to find a very worried Dustin and Tami. They both were talking at once about how they were late, Tami got worried and came over, and how they had seen something on TV.

Joey walked in and sat on the small, blue sofa. He somehow told them the whole story, all while staring at the wall.

For once, Tami and Dustin couldn't think of anything to say. They seemed to be in as much shock as Joey was.

For a full hour the three of them just sat in Dustin's living room. Dustin was thinking about how creepy the whole situation was, Tami (with her eyes filled with tears) was thinking about how much she needed her best friend, and Joey… well, Joey thought about a lot of things.

He thought about how he had fallen in love with Mary. He thought of things that had happened when they were together. It was like his head was a TV and it was stuck, playing rerun after rerun. Never in order. Some things were rather important moments, their first dance, Mary's graduation day, and the day they arrived in Manhattan. But other stuff, was just little moments, such as the time Mary told him a joke on her way to school, or called to say that Tami had called, or the way her eyes lit up when she laughed, or she lost herself in the music when she was dancing. Just little things that made Mary who she was.

They had stayed there almost all night, until they decided they needed some sleep. So Tami headed back home with the promise that she would be back first thing tomorrow morning.

Tami kept her promise and ended up waking the boys up.

They had just eaten some slightly burned eggos (made by Dustin) when Joey's cell phone rang.

"Hello." he answered.

"Yes… Mr. Parker?" a deep voice replied.

"Yes… who is this?" Joey asked.

"This is Isaac Konsley, from the Los Angeles Police Department. I called referring to a young woman you said was being held against her will." the Mr. Konsley said.

Joey put his hand over the receiver. "It's the police!" He whispered.

Tami and Dustin were soon crowding around him.

"Mary Santiago." Joey said into the phone.

"Well we think we found her body."

**_Oooooo a cliffhanger! Hahaha_**

**_I loved writing about Joey for some reason, I think it turns out well (I am I right or wrong?)_**

**_I can't help feel that Tami and Dustin are out of character…_**


	16. Chapter 16 phone calls

**_Sorry if the last for chapters have sucked, sorry if anyone was disappointed with who Derek is. Sorry if the story has gotten worse. THANK YOU, people that are still reading this._**

**_I am trying my best._**

"Body?" Joey said hoarsely.

Tami's hand immediately covered her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. Dustin reeled back in surprise. It was obvious they had heard Mr. Konsley.

This couldn't be happening. This was over. The man had run away. He hadn't come back. Mary was still here… they kept thinking that. None sure of what had really just happened. Yesterday Mary was with them. They didn't even want to think about finding her body.

"Yes, Mr. Parker… her body. Of course we are not certain, the body was pretty mutilated…" Joey winced at his words. Bodies were one thing on mysteries movies, when you just want to know what happened and who killed them. But when the person is your girlfriend, or friend… and you don't know who killed them or why? Things are different.

"We will need a DNA sample to be sure." Mr. Konsley continued.

"DNA? Like hair?"

"Yes… hair would be perfect. See if you can find a strand of hair and have someone bring it down to headquarters."

"Okay. Someone will bring it down soon."

Joey closed the phone with a snap, and ended the hardest conversation he'd ever had.

* * *

Tick-Tock.

Tick-Tock

The clock kept ticking. Each second adding to the four days.

The four days Mary had been her father's prisoner.

Her father's prisoner.

Mary sat at the kitchen table, her elbows resting on the table, her head in her hands.

She snapped her head up and glanced around.

Not much had changed, the only difference was Derek was on a small laptop 24/7 instead of watching tv.

Mary turned her head towards the "kitchen". The knife was resting on the counter.

The same knife he scarred her with, physically and emotionally.

The same knife he almost plunged into her body, only to turn his hand the other way at the last second.

It was like part of him couldn't do it. Even though he was psychotic and deranged, it was like down inside he knew it was his daughter there. And he just couldn't kill her.

Mary knew if she didn't get out of here she would die. By Derek's hand or her owns.

She couldn't take it much longer. Suffering every kind of cruelty, not knowing if you'd ever see your friends again.

Mary wondered if her mother had felt this way.

"Mary!" Derek called, interrupting her thoughts.

"I am going to have to go to the store and get some food… I expected you to be dead and me to be on my way to Mexico by now.."

He snapped his laptop shut and placed it on the floor, next to the couch.

"Don't even think about going anywhere. The walls are solid concrete and the door will be bolted from the outside."

Mary just nodded.

"If your not sitting at that table when I come back… well today will be your last day." Mary didn't say anything, just watched as Derek grabbed his coat, walked out the door and slammed it shut. Then Mary heard him lock it.

20 minutes later, Mary was sitting in the same position. Staring at the wall. Bored out of her mind.

Then she remembered something.

Something amazing.

Something she couldn't believe she'd ever forgotten.

Her cell phone was still under the couch.

Mary glanced at the door nervously. She had no idea how long shopping would take Derek.

And if he saw she had a cell phone. She would be dead in an instant.

Mary sighed and quickly stood up. She practically ran over to the couch. She fell on her hands and knees, stuck her arm an felt around.

She found an old potato chip, a nickel and an enormous ball of lint before her hand finally fell an her cell phone.

She pulled the silver handheld out from under the couch.

Within seconds she'd dialed Joey's number.

He answered almost immediately.

"Hello?" It felt so good to hear his voice.

"Joey… it's me."

"Mary?" he said shocked. "Your supposed to be dead!"

"What?" "Well… at least we thought so. The police thought they found your body… in fact we are at the police station now. We are waiting for the test results."

"I am alive." "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that." Mary smiled despite the situation.

"Mary," Joey continued. "Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I don't know where I am. He knocked me out somehow, and when I woke up, I was in this dark creepy basement."

"Hold on!" Joey said. Mary could tell he'd put his hand over the phone.

There was a bunch of static and then Tami's screaming into the phone.

"Omg Oh my god! Mary!"

Mary had to hold the phone a foot away to avoid becoming deaf.

"Mary! Mary they thought that you had died! They found this body in a river, and they couldn't tell if it was you or not and we had to bring in a strand of hair and we were about to get the results when you called Joey and I cannot believe it your alive!" Tami rambled on like a five-year-old after Halloween.

Mary could hear Joey talking to someone in the distance, (she couldn't make out what he was saying, Tami was too loud).

"Oh well I guess I have to give the phone to Joey now I think they are going to track you through it or something like that! Toodles!"

Mary laughed.

"Hey Mary!" Joey voice came through the phone. "The police are going to track you through the phone so don't hang up!"

"I won't!"

Less then 10 minutes later, the police were on there way. She was in the basement of some cabin in the woods.

She and Joey had been talking, about what everyone had done after they were gone. Mary had explained why she hadn't been able to call before, and Joey had explained the whole body situation.

"Yeah, then we came down here to get the results." Joey said.

"I'm sorry you guys had to go through that." "I am sorry that you had to be in that basement with that maniac." "You don't even know the half of it."

"What?"

"I found out who is Joey, he's my-" Then Mary screamed. A blood curdling scream.

A scream that made everyone at the police station heart's stop.

Because right behind Mary, was Derek, pistol in hand.


	17. Chapter 17 A free statue

"Aww… now you've done it!" Derek shouted. "I am going to have to suspend your cell phone privileges!" in one swift motion he snatched her cell phone and thrown it on the ground, then he stomped it to bits.

He grabbed Mary and roughly pulled her against the wall.

"The police will be here any minute!" Mary shrieked. "Killing me won't help.

Derek sighed. Then pushed Mary over to the door.

"Of course I wouldn't kill you… you may be my ticket out of this…"

He pushed Mary through the door and up a flight of stairs, and into and empty log cabin (with absolutely no furnishings).

As soon as he opened the front door of the cabin, they heard police sirens and in less then a minute, the police were there.

Two police cars, pulled in, and then jerked to a stop.

The sight of the cars made her smile. This was all she had been hoping for the past few days, the police.

Then she was reminded of the man who still held her at gunpoint.

The police practically jumped out of the cars and immediately had their guns aimed at Derek.

"You shoot one bullet and I swear…" Derek yelled, not finishing the threat. But they all knew too well what he meant.

Mary especially. She'd been in this position too much lately. The gun pointed at her head, everyone looking at her sympathetically, helpless.

Mary was tired of this. Mary was tired of this man, she hated him.

Mary was normally quiet, she normally tried to look for good in people. To Mary it was clear, there was no good in this man.

Something inside her snapped. She turned and grabbed his fist with both hands (the one clutching the gun) and tried to pull the gun from his hands.

The gun was fired into the air. Then Derek took his other hand hit Mary on her side, knocking her to the ground.

Within the seconds Mary and Derek had struggled. Two police officers had come up from behind.

They each grabbed one of his arms and knocked the gun to the ground.

They pushed him over to the car, where one handcuffed him and the other read him his rights.

Mary was still sitting on the ground. One other police officer helped her to her feet and drove her to the police station. Derek rode in the car behind them.

They rode in silence.

When they arrived at the police station. Tami, Dustin and Joey were there waiting. Mary hugged Tami in silence.

When Tami finally let her go, Joey held her tight.  
Mary had been his prisoner for four days, and every second had felt like an hour. But Derek's arrest had taken place in less then a minute, and every second of it felt like an eternity.  
The nightmare was over. It was really over. She couldn't believe it.  
She though should be happy, or sad because of what she want through. She should feel overjoyed from being with her friends again, or she should feel sorry for herself.  
She didn't know what to feel. But she felt she should feel something,. She didn't. She was like a statue sitting in a garden, through the wind an the rain she just stands still, through the thunder and lightning, and what people considered a tragedy, she was cold and numb.

.

_**I know this chapter is short (that's my writing style) and sucked. I know Mary was out of character. But it's will make sense later.**_


	18. Chapter 18 Square one only different

_**Okay… I feel just incredibly bad for not updating in 2 WEEKS! But I do have a good excuse(s). My grandma died, we had to clean her house out and rent it to someone, I've been sick, and I have a ton of schoolwork. So yeah…. I've been busy… but Is till feel terrible that I broke my promise to update once a week. I'll try and update twice to make up for it.**_

Mary had gone to the hospital, to fin that remarkably she had no broken bones and no serious cuts. She did had to have a few stitches replaced.

Then she went back to the police station, and told them everything she knew.

Then they all went home.

Where Mary sat on the couch most of the day, and watched tv.

She didn't dance.

She didn't smile.

She didn't do anything.

No one brought it up. No one want to upset her after what she been through.

But after two weeks, Mary was sick of that.

Back to square one.

Charity case that everyone feels sorry for.

Mary felt like an accident that the world was out to get. She was rude and hateful, for a full two weeks. And it had been one month since the incident.

NO one quite expected her to just act normally again, but no one expected her to act like that.

She was sitting on the couch one day, and she thought of something she hadn't thought of before. "Who was going to give her away at her wedding?"

She was trying to think of every possible person, but couldn't come up with one.

Then Joey walked inside.

"Joey whose going to give me away!?" Mary said quickly, jolting up into a sitting position.

"What do you mean?" Joey asked walking forward so he was standing at the arm of the couch.

"At our wedding, who is going to give me away?" Mary asked again.

Joey thought about it for a moment, but obviously couldn't think of any candidates either.

"Well… nobody has to give you away. You always were pretty independent." Joey smiled and kissed her forehead.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Yeah, your only saying that because my dads in jail, where he needs to be."

"Mary…" Joey started.

"Just shut up, Parker!" Mary snapped.

Joey didn't say anything else about the matter. He didn't want to upset her more. Mary's attitude had been that way for a while, but it still shocked him. Where was his sweet loving girlfriend?

"So…. " Joey said breaking the silence that had hung in the air for the past few minutes. "umm… I came down here to ask if you wanted to go see a movie. It can be just us or maybe we can see if Tami and Dustin-"

"No thanks." "But we could go see that movie you wanted to see… 'The Time Travelers Wife'" _**(A.N. First relatively new movie that popped in my head :D) **_

"I don't want to see that movie." "But you did…"

"Well people change their minds!" Mary yelled viciously as she stood up.

Joey snapped. He had tried to be understanding. He had tried to be kind. But all he'd gotten was yelled at.

"Oh really!" he yelled. All of his pent up frustration coming out in his words, causing every word to sound mean and spiteful.

"Well I want my ring back! I've changed my mind! People do that you know!"

Mary was taken back.

She put her finger on the ring on he left hand and instinctively twisted it.

"Really?" she asked quietly and meekly.

"No." Joey breathed. "But if your going to have this attitude and keep thinking that the world hates you… I don't even know who you are anymore, Mary." He explained much calmer.

"Fine then?" Mary yelled angrily. "If that's the way you feel you can have your stupid ring back." Mary threw the ring down at his feet.

"What?! No! You just don't do anything! You act mean and spiteful-" "Shut up!" Mary screamed. An abnormal lump forming in the back of her throat. "Just take your ring and leave!"

Joey slowly bent down and picked up the ring. He walked outside and closed the door with a gently click. All the time feeling terrible for losing his temper.

One single tear ran down Mary's cheek and she mentally slapped herself for it. Then she sighed and used the remote to turn the tv back on.

_**Okay, Okay I hat this myself, but things happen and people act different then who they really are. And they say and do things that go against there feelings.**_

_**There is only a few more chapters left… but don't worry, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve :D**_


	19. Chapter 19 Meant to be

Tami was really confused, and rather angry, when her supposedly quiet dinner with Dustin was interrupted by Joey storming in.

Mary went to bed early that night, and slept late the next morning, so Tami didn't get to talk to her until she came back from work.

When she came walking through the door, tossing her blue bag onto the table without a second glace, Mary could tell she was frustrated.

"Uh hi!" Mary said, swallowing the chips she'd been snacking on. "You look nice today."

Mary was hoping to get Tami talking. She hoped she'd go on about how she found the off-the-shoulder, dark blue shirt at some flea market and how the belt she had tied around her white skinny jeans tied the look together.

But she didn't. Tami ignored the statement altogether.

"What did you do!?" Tami cried out in exasperation.

"What?" Mary whined, trying to act innocent.

"You know very well 'What'." Tami said, sitting down, beside Mary.

"Well… Joey came in acting all weird and moody and just called off the wedding." Mary said simply, cramming a salty slice into her mouth.

Tami simply crossed her legs and raised an eyebrow.

Mary just turned her attention back to the tv.

"Mary!" Tami finally spoke. "You love him! You're always happiest when your with him!"

Mary ignored her.

"I swear Mary… " Tami said jerking up out of her seat. "You have the worst attitude."

Mary barely heard her mumble, as she was walking away, "You are starting to remind me of Dominique."

Mary jerked upright. Tami's low words had hit her like a gust of cool air.

She quickly tossed aside the bag of chips, and bounded up the stairs. Then she hurriedly ran inside the bathroom door, turned, and locked it.

It was an old trick she'd learned when she lived with Dominique, whenever she needed to think she'd lock herself in the bathroom. No one would bother her in there.

Tami had done another great job when she decorated that room. The top half of the walls were painted a cherry red, the bottom half was wallpapered, with a design filled with red circles that closely resembled cherries, swirled around on a white background. The only color in the room was red, the porcelain sink, bath tub and tile were all white, but the cherry design brightened up the room, the white shower curtain even had a huge cherry painted on it.

Mary gripped the edge of the sink and tried to think. She knew everyone was right. But what had happened to her? When had she devolved the very look on life she'd grown up hating?

She looked up into the mirror and for one brief second, the image there was not her own, but Dominique's.

Was that what she would become, if she continued treating everyone she loved this way? Someone who'd once had her fifteen minutes of fame, but now no one liked?

The thought was enough to make her shudder.

Then suddenly, Mary knew what she had to do. She looked up at a white clock hanging on the wall. Almost five, everyone else would be gone, and Joey would be rehearsing by himself.

Mary quickly changed out of her flannel pajama's and into red halter top dress. The top was figure hugging, but below the waist it was ruffled. It came down to just below her knee.

Mary quickly brushed through her hair, and let the waves hang down around her shoulders. As fast as she could, she applied a dusting of makeup, grabbed her stereo and some silver heels, and headed out the door.

Mary made it in time. Joey had just said goodbye to the rest of the crew and had headed to the stage to practice alone, when he saw Mary standing in the middle of the stage.

He was in the outfit he was going to perform in, just like Mary knew he would be.

"Mary?" He asked, smiling the tiniest bit. He started to walk towards her.

Mary started to do the same, and as she did, she spoke, "I needed to come make things right again." She pressed a button on a remote she held in her hand, then she softly tossed it beside her stereo. The soft sound of guitar strumming came out of the speakers. "I needed to dance with you." She smiled.

Joey returned her smile and soon they were swaying to the music..

"Joey…" Mary started. "I'm really sorry about the other night. I didn't mean to act so mean." Mary paused for a second then continued, all her words running into each other. "I guess that I just was feeling like I wasn't even supposed to be born, and all my life I was never wanted. I was just a problem and I guess I was just angry at myself for not being good enough. So I-"

"Mary." Joey interrupted, looking into her eyes. Mary also was gazing into his hypnotic, blue eyes. Then he spoke, he said each word quietly, with emphasis. "No one could ever possibly want you as much as I want you. I love you."

Mary smiled and looked down.

The last bars played as the song ended. Then the first few notes of "I Promise You" drifted through the speakers.

Mary's foot slid across the floor in complex move. From then on their moves only grew more detailed.

Their bodies slid across the floor, in time with the music.

This was the way it was. They didn't need a rehearsal, they didn't need to choreograph the dance before hand. There bodies moved in unison.

By the time Mary could even think about the moves, her body had already done them. Something about being near him, made the music in her soul play and her body dance to it. It was just another way that she knew, they were meant to be together.

As the final verse started to play, Joey spun Mary out, and she spun just as she had at the end of their first dance, only this time, she didn't fall. Her hair flapped wildly and smacked against her cheeks, then she pushed her left leg forward, her right leg behind her, and slid to the floor, ending the spin with a perfect split. She was facing Joey, who had just finished his own playlist of movements.

He looked at her, and she looked at him, and then they both knew how to end the dance.

In one brisk movement, Mary was on her feet again.

And just as the final chorus blared through the speakers, Mary leaped over to Joey and in one graceful jump, was lifted into the air, arms outstretched.

For a few seconds Joey's strong arms just held her there, then he slowly slid a red faced, and laughing Mary, down. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and his hands wrapped around her waist.

Then Joey removed one of her hands from his shoulder and held it within his own, with his other hand he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small gold band. The diamond sparkling despite the dim light. He slowly slid the ring on her finger, his eyes never looking away from her own liquid chocolate orbs

"It's still yours… if you want it." He said softly.

Mary put her arms back around his neck and her white teeth showed between her rose lips as she smiled. "No one could ever possibly want it as much as I want it." She repeated softly.

As the song ended, the only sound in the room was that of their breathing.

Then they kissed. Neither one really kissed the other, it was more that, there bodies moved in unison one more.

_**Gak!!!! So sorry for the wait. But I combined two chapters to make up for it. The last chapter was so rushed and out of character that I tried really hard to do a better job on this one, I think I failed though. **_

_**Anyway the last song they danced to was I promise you by Selena Gomez and the scene (my favorite band). I though that was kind a funny because, she is Selena Gomez but anyway here are the lyrics. **_

I knowThat my love forYou is realIt's somethin' trueThat we doJust somethin' naturalThat I feelWhen you walk in the roomWhen you're nearI feel my heart skip a beatThe whole world disappearsAnd there's just you and meFalling head over feetLet's take a chance, together(Chorus)I know, I know, I know, I know,We're gonna make it'Cause no one else canMake me feel the way that you doI promise youI know, I know, I know, I know,We're gonna get thereToday, tomorrow,And forever we will stay trueI Promise youThey say,That we're just too young to know,But I'm sure heart and soulThat I am never letting you goWhen it's right, it's rightAnd this is it'Cause I'm walking on airEvery single time that we kissYou make the angels singYou give that songbird wingsYou make everything better(Chorus)I know, I know, I know, I know,We're gonna make it'Cause no one else canMake me feel the way that you doI promise youI know, I know, I know, I know,We're gonna get thereToday, tomorrow,And forever we will stay trueI Promise youI'll never let you downI'll always hear you outThere is nothing you can not confide You listen when I speakYou make my knees go weakAnd I just want you by side

(Chorus)I know, I know, I know, I know,We're gonna make it'Cause no one else canMake me feel the way that you doI promise youI know, I know, I know, I know,We're gonna get thereToday, tomorrow,And forever we will stay trueI Promise youWe're gonna make itI promise you, yeah, yeah, yeahI promise youI promise youI promise you

_**THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER! Ah! My first fanfic is finished!!!!!!!!!! Anyway I may have a epilogue of their wedding ore maybe a two or three shot sequel, but it wouldn't be for a while**_


	20. Chapter 20 An Banner

Hello... no this isn't the epilogue... I've decided not to do one right now (Sorry.. but I have a life too!) that doesn't mean I won't do one in the future.

I was just letting you al know that I've made a banner for this story, you can check it out here... (you will have to remove the spaces. :s Sorry!)

http:// . com/photos/ 50098479N04/ 4600268680 /in/photostream/


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